Windsor marijuana club ban passes

Intent of ordinances is to protect Windsor's image, Vazquez says

Apr. 11, 2013

Written by

What are the marijuana ordinances?

• Ordinance No. 2013-1448: An ordinance prohibiting the operation of any marijuana business enterprise within the meaning of Article XVII, Section 16 of the Colorado Constitution within the town of Windsor, Colorado. • Ordinance No. 2013-1449: An ordinance prohibiting the establishment and operation of private marijuana clubs within the town of Windsor, Colorado. • Ordinance No. 2013-1450: An ordinance prohibiting the establishment and operation of certain marijuana cultivation facilities within the Town of Windsor, Colorado. For a more detailed description of the ordinances, visit www.windsorgov.com for the April 8 agenda packet.

More

ADVERTISEMENT

With a November 2012 vote, Colorado voters supported the legalization of recreational marijuana. However, Windsor residents have spoken, and they don’t want to see pot infiltrate the town’s commercial buildings and local economy.

Windsor Town Board members approved Monday night three ordinances that ban private marijuana clubs from Windsor while also prohibiting weed-related retail stores, grow operations, cultivation, and marijuana processing and testing facilities from opening. They also limit home-grow operations to 24 plants at each individual address in town.

The first and third ordinances — addressing the operation of marijuana business enterprises and prohibition of cultivation facilities within Windsor — passed unanimously with all six board members and the mayor present. The second ordinance, which prohibits the establishment and operation of private marijuana clubs in town, passed on a 5-2 vote with members Myles Baker and Jeremy Rose voting against it.

Both Baker and Rose said they felt uneasy regulating the private activities of citizens.

“As I stated at the first reading (Feb. 25), I question our authority and logic in banning the assembly of adults to participate in a legal activity in a private setting, whether that be a home or a private venue,” Baker said.

Rose said he thinks the verbiage of the second ordinance could stand to be amended. According to the way the second ordinance is written, Rose said people don’t even have to get together for the sole purpose of consuming marijuana for it to be prohibited.

For example, if a business owner closes his shop one day, invites a few friends over with the purpose of watching a sporting event on television and ends up consuming marijuana, it is banned under the second ordinance, even if the consumption of marijuana wasn’t the purpose of gathering in the first place.

“They can get together for other reasons, but they might also engage in a legal activity in conjunction with that other activity, and that is now also prohibited under the ordinance (because they’re in a commercial structure),” Rose said, adding a possible amendment could just make it illegal to consume marijuana in a commercial structure when that is the primary, intended purpose.

(Page 2 of 2)

When asked what the police would prefer, Windsor Police Chief John Michaels said it would be easier to enforce if the verbiage were kept the same and not amended.

“The cleaner the ordinance, the better. The simpler, the better,” Michaels said.

Rose also suggested a change in wording of the first ordinance, which says “the Town Board believes that the establishment of marijuana business enterprises carries the potential for abuse, financial mismanagement, regulatory complications not yet entirely clear, injury to the public health and damage to the Town’s reputation.”

“I think that language is unnecessary,” Rose said, adding the paragraph following that, which states the “Town’s voters have expressed their overwhelming opposition to both the establishment and operation of marijuana enterprises within the Town’s corporate limits,” could also stand to be clarified.

“That (using the term ‘overwhelming opposition’) seems like a mischaracterization,” Rose said. “I understand that the voting record on this wasn’t necessarily that overwhelming.”

The pot discussion began months ago and hit a road block in February when board members couldn’t agree on passing an emergency moratorium that would have temporarily banned the formation of private clubs in commercial Windsor structures.

After bringing the issue back up and passing the ordinances through their first readings Feb. 25, the board set the second readings for Monday, where they discussed the ordinances’ verbiage and heard public input from Windsor residents.

Francy Henderson lives in Windsor and has been steadily attending meetings about the issue.

“I’m representing grandmothers, mothers and Weld County Prevention Partners in hoping that you will vote for this issue and prohibit any marijuana business, testing, growing, selling ... ” Henderson said to the board Monday.

Another resident — the only one Mayor John Vazquez said he’s heard from who opposes the ordinances — also spoke.

Vazquez said the intent of the ordinances is to protect Windsor’s image.

“The way our Main Street looks says a lot about our values as a community,” he said. “Some might disagree with me on that and say we’re maybe a little more tolerant and alternative than I think we are.

“I think, with what I’ve heard, that we’re still a fairly conservative, reserved community that values very much its image and the example we set our kids.”